Environmental regulations are requiring lower levels of aromatics in hydrocarbon fuels, and more specifically to lower levels of multi-ring aromatic rings in distillate fuels and heavier hydrocarbon products. The aromatic molecules are responsible for low cetane number in diesel fuel, high smoke point in jet fuels, and particulate emissions in the exhaust gas.
Although further aromatic saturation can be achieved by hydrotreating at higher severity, such an approach may be less desirable for many refineries due to the increased costs. It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and system capable of performing aromatic saturation in a more cost effective manner or while avoiding other disadvantages of current technologies. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide new systems and methods that increase the volume yield of a hydroprocessing unit.